Volunteers came out in droves early Saturday morning to fill sandbags and do their part to keep the flood waters back.

Grand Rapids planned to make 75,000 sandbags available to residents Saturday at 201 Market Ave. Bags were available starting at 8 a.m., and volunteers showed up early to help fill them.

"Unbelievable," Nancy Hart said the Grand River. "It's just like a big lake out there now."

Hart lives near Riverside Park. Like many of the volunteers at the city's lot Saturday, Hart's home is dry. A member of the West Michigan Environmental Action Council, Hart was filling sandbags to help save the Grand Rapids' water.

Victor Rose, the city's public services manager, was impressed with the number of volunteers. He was making sure everyone had shovels, bags, coffee, water and food.

An Amish group from Freemont made the nearly 50-mile trip south to Grand Rapids to help. Andy Schrock said the group sometimes travels hundreds of miles to lend a hand. They were more than happy to help out in their own backyard.

"It sounded like there was a need," Schrock said. "We've had some unusual weather this spring."

The Rodriguez family had an efficient system worked out to fill the sandbags. Rocio Rodriguez would shovel sand while one of her daughters held open the bag. Another daughter would then tied the bag close and stack it.

"Teamwork," Rodriguez said.

The sandbags could be house-savers for Clarence and Leslie Erickson. The pond in their Kentwood neighborhood has flooded and the water is making its way toward their home. They loaded up their SUV Saturday morning with sandbags hoping to stop the flood.

Residents could take up to 100 sandbags. The sandbags filled Saturday were also taken to the wastewater treatment plant and used to protect it from rising waters.